Central Footwear Training Institute, Chennai
The Central Footwear Training Centre(formerly CFTC), Chennai the premier Institute of its kind in the country, came into being in July, 1957, with the assistance of Ford Foundation. The erstwhile CFTC was conducting 18 months "Advanced Footwear Technology Course" and Practical oriented need based short - term courses. The CFTC has trained about 6000 candidates, which includes 154 foreign nationals from countries like Nigeria, Mauritius, Philippines, Figi, Tibet, Guyana. Uganda, Zambia Hungary, Srilanka etc.
It is govt of India society under Ministry of Micro, small and Medium enterprises. The Institute's premier course; the Diploma in Footwear Design & Production is accredited with the Leicester College of Footwear, U.K. The Institute is patronized with the International Textile Institute, London , U.K
The Institute is empanelled under TCS Colombo Plan for conducting training for International participants.
The Departmentally run Central Footwear Training Centre was converted into an autonomous Institution (Government of India, under the Ministry of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises, Govt. of India) w.e.f. 1.14.1996 for better functional autonomy and was renamed as "Central Footwear Training Institute" Chennai, (CFTI, Chennai). The Institute is modernised with UNDP assistance under the National Leather Development Programme and is fully equipped with state-of-the art machinery to impart training in the modern methods of Footwear manufacturing.